The Girl I Love Never Existed
by peacelovebethx
Summary: Gabriella's family was one of the most powerful in the kingdom. But people wanted change. People who took her family away from her. Yet, someone saved her. Hidden from the world, Gabriella will learn that passion and true love can change everything.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: I understand that this doesn't make any sense, so I will be posting a trailer for this series on my youtube and then I will post the link on my profile when it's done. If you are really confused, the trailer will explain everything.** ______________________________________________________________________________________

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

Despite being the daughter of royalty, or close to it, Gabriella had been sent outside of the castle for boarding school to "experience real life." It was one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the kingdom, true, but during Gabriella's annual visits to the castle she realized how sheltered castle life really was.

At school, Gabriella had a few best friends, but was also friends with everyone from the richest fashionistas to the studious scholarship kids. She was great at understanding different peoples' points of views. So, it made sense that, out of everyone in her family, she understood best why the revolutionaries had started rebelling. At times, she even had agreed with their need for change but just not their violent tactics. This had become a huge source of tension between her and her father, who refused to advise the king towards reform. He had still refused, even when things became violent.

Gabriella had known about the growing violence of revolutionaries in the country. She had known also that her family posed a huge threat to these people. Or, more accurately, her father posed a threat. Yes, she had known about the violence, yet after arriving back into the castle for a visit she had fallen into a dreamless sleep without a worry…

Gabriella was never really sure what woke her up from the dreamless sleep she had fallen into while watching clouds pass from the skylight window alone in the lofty attic. Maybe, it had been the absence of something. It always tortured the petite teenage girl why she hadn't been woken by the painfully important events that she was told happened prior to her awakening. The events that forever changed her life, and she had slept on. Yet when she was awoken, it was all over.

Gabriella drowsily opened her eyes at the lightest touch on the shoulder and came back to reality. She noticed a man in his mid-thirties looking worriedly down at her. The man's hair was light brown, spiked at all angles, and had an unsmiling look on his tan face.

"Gabriella Montez?" the man said more as a statement than a question.

" Who are you?" all she could do was look up, frozen with fear, at the man kneeling over her, her voice shaking.

"Teddy Carr." Gabby noticed how hushed and tense he seemed, jumping at the slightest noise, and glancing up every few moments. " It's not safe here."

_What does he mean 'not safe'? Isn't this the safest place in the country? Inside the castle? Why is he here? Why would my parents send someone I'd never met to wake me up? How long was I asleep... A million thoughts raced through Gabriella's mind…_

All she could form out of these silent questions was, "How long have I been asleep?"

"Long enough, probably less than an hour. We have to leave here soon; it isn't safe. They're watching the castle." Teddy said this in a grave tone that caused a horrible feeling of fear form in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly all of his words sunk in and Gabby sat up alertly. And, then, all the words came.

" What the hell do you mean leave? You can't take me anywhere. Where are my parents and Eli and Julianne?" Gabriella had this growing feeling like whatever this man was here for it wasn't good.

" We have to go. Hide you. Your family is gone." Teddy's tone of voice was becoming increasingly uneasy and urgent.

"I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me where my family is!" she addressed him angrily, trying to hide the desperation in her voice.

Teddy looked away as he spoke the next series of words that changed the life of the 16-year-old, brown-eyed brunette.

"I'm sorry. Your parents are gone. They were taken away… They are going to be killed, most likely." Teddy didn't dare to look at her now, his very words breaking the girl's heart. " Your brother, too, he is too old to be trusted. Julianne was sent out of the country. Even if she lives, you can't ever see her again. I'm sorry."

When Teddy stopped, Gabby just sat there shocked. It hit her hard, when she was least expecting it. It crashed through her heart like a bulldozer. And, there was nothing left but wreckage, the emptiness that followed the only evidence that there used to be anything there at all. She was too numb to cry. Suddenly the last images she would ever see of her family flooded her memory. All these images flashed through her mind like a black-and-white silent movie. Her family. They were there less than an hour ago, alive. Now they were gone. No more than distant, surreal figures of the past.

So, Gabriella did the only thing she could do now, she continued on. Alone and afraid after losing everything. She knew that she would do whatever it took to stay alive. Her life was the only thing she had left. So, without a single tear, she stood up and reached to the floor to pick up what she had left from her previous life, her mother's shawl. "Why didn't you try to stop them?"

"Because I was, I am, one of them."

She remembered these words for years afterward, but she had only just heard them before she fainted.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author Note: I don't really have a definite idea of ages and what the characters _have_ to look like (except for Troy and Gabriella of course) but here are celebrities who look close to what I'm going for: _

_Teddy (45ish): Jude Jaw_

_Shawn (17 years old): Hayden Panettiere_

_Colleen (16 years old): blonde Kristen Stewart (like in 2007)_

_Troy (19 years old): Zac Efron_

_Gabriella (17 years old): Vanessa Hudgens_

_I will post links to the pictures of what Shawn, Teddy, and Colleen look like on my profile page._

_**This time it was a strange light that awoke Gabriella. She awoke with a start to see that she appeared to be sleeping on a pile of blankets and pillows in front of a lighted fireplace. She sat up little a little trying to make sense of the events of the day. Gabriella felt faint, as though her heart was too empty to support any movement. **_

"_**Owww." Gabriella groaned feebly. **_

"_**Oh, she awake." For the first time Gabby noticed a small figure standing across the room. Gabby was barely able to register the voice before the girl was crossing the room to her. Then, the figure was beside Gabriella. "Colleen," the blonde, petite girl briskly introduced herself. The girl looked around and called out, "Shawn! Shawn…!" Suddenly there was another older- looking girl girl; Gabriella could not make sense of any of this.**_

"_**What Col?" Shawn asked, irritated.**_

"_**She's awake." Colleen said, nodding her head in Gabriella's direction.**_

"_**Oh, I see." Shawn regarded Gabriella coolly. **_

"_**What should we do?" Colleen said, her voice much less collected than her sister's.**_

"_**I don't know… I still can't believe dad did this." **_

"_**Well, he did."**_

"_**I guess we should just get her upstairs." The older girl stared at a sitting Gabriella. "Are you just going to lay there or what?"**_

_**Gabriella started at the question, "Where's Teddy?"**_

"_**Out." Colleen and Shawn answered in unison, their voices snappy and anxious. **_

"_**Okay…" Gabby wanted to ask them so much but nothing really came out.**_

"_**Come on, we'll show you were you are going to live." Colleen said and Shawn offered a reluctant hand for Gabriella when she struggled to get up. Gabriella took it quite unsteadily and Shawn pulled her to her feet. **_

_**Looking around, Gabriella noticed that she was in a small, but sleek apartment. There was a kitchen, a patio, and a living room with a fireplace where she was now. It was nice, but it was as foreign to Gabriella as an entirely different country. It was not her lofty, stylish dorm or the magnificent aged walls of the castle. And, it was certainly not home. **_

_**She followed the two girls up a winding staircase. The second floor has stunning hard wood floors and enormous windows that were all conspicuously covered with deep blue velvet curtains that just swept the floors. The stairs came up to a room with a high ceiling, a chandelier, and towering bookcases. Gabriella noticed a wide hallway off the main room, all of the doors closed. **_

"_**My room is down there," Colleen informed Gabriella, gesturing down the hallway, "and so is Shawn's." Shawn gave an audible groan of agitation.**_

_**Shawn led Gabriella to the side of the room opposite the hallway where there was only one doorway covered by a lavender curtain. Shawn pushed the curtain aside and gestured for Gabriella to go into the room. **_

"_**This?" Gabriella asked in confusion. The room was big and dusty with no bed. There was just a single, dusty couch, a projector screen, and a fireplace identical to the one downstairs. There was also a vanity behind the couch piled with clothing and books and an old record player. **_

_**Shawn raised a skeptical light brown eyebrow, "Got a problem with it?" Shawn's grey eyes practically glistened with the hope that Gabriella would dare to challenge her. **_

"_**No. The room's fine." she answered, her brown eyes meeting Shawn's grey ones.**_

"_**Good. This isn't you castle. Real life is something you should-" The angry words were cut short by a door slam echoing from the floor below.**_

"_**Hey, anybody home?" called a smooth, male voice that Gabriella didn't recognize as Teddy's.**_

"_**Shit." muttered Colleen.**_

"_**Colleen!" Shawn scolded Colleen in her best older sister voice.**_

"_**What?" Colleen asked both defensively and angrily, "Troy's home; we're screwed." The two sisters seemed engrossed in their hushed argument and Gabriella took the opportunity to back away and sit on the arm of the couch.**_

"**We're**_** not screwed. Dad is." Shawn disagreed again.**_

"_**Yea, well, do you see Dad anywhere, Shawn? I don't; he's **_**not**_** here. We are." **_

_**Shawn seemed to contemplate this statement for a long moment before groaning in defeated frustration, "Double shit."**_

"_**Hello?" the voice called again, "Where the hell is everybody?"**_

_**Colleen looked toward the door, sighed heavily, and called out, "Up here, Troy." The girls heard the sound of footsteps crossing the floor and climbing the stairs.**_

"_**Stay here." growled Shawn at Gabriella before turning on her heel and dragging Colleen out of the doorway behind her. The curtain feel back across the doorway, shielding any view Gabriella might have had. She was left to simply sit on the arm of the dusty couch, confused and exhausted. **_

'_**What's going on?" the male voice asked, now just outside the door, "Why were you guys in there?"**_

"_**You really **_**don't **_**want to hear this." Colleen told him, a pleading note in her voice. **_

"_**Oh, **_**come on**_**. I fought through hoards of frenzied people just to make sure you two were okay, and now you guys are acting like absolute whackos! What the heck is up with you two?"**_

"_**I think we should talk about this somewhere else." Shawn uttered, trying to quiet him, "**_**Please**_**, Troy." **_

"_**Fine! Fine." Footsteps moved away from the door and Shawn's voice began again, barely loud enough for Gabriella to hear. **_

"_**You obviously know what happened today… and…" Shawn's voice was so quiet Gabriella could only make out a few words, "…advisor…daughter…castle… dad... found…girl…here…"**_

"_**What?"**_

"_**Troy –,"**_

"_**Where is she?" Gabriella heard footsteps storm back to the doorway the curtain was ripped away from the doorframe, revealing the gorgeous, enraged face. He stormed the short distance to her and grabbed her slender arm, yanking her from her seat. **_

_**Gabriella wasn't the least bit afraid. What did she have to fear anymore? Not pain, and certainly not death. Everything in her life worth living for was already gone. His grip on her arm throbbed and his face was a mere inch from hers, "You…!" he growled.**_

"_**Troy, don't!" Colleen pleaded from the doorway, "He'll kill you. She hasn't done anything wrong."**_

"_**Stay **_**out **_**of this, Colleen!"  
"She right, Troy." Shawn said unworriedly, appearing next to Colleen by the door, "You know how he gets when someone challenges his decisions."**_

"_**Yeah, well, he's taken it too far this time!" He said through a clenched jaw. Everyone jumps when the sound of a door slamming echoes from the floor below.**_

"_**Colleen? Shawn, where are you?" calls Teddy's voice. His footsteps thunder up the stairs and suddenly he's standing behind the girls, seeing Troy gripping Gabriella he storms past the girls and into the room, "Troy, let her go! Now." Teddy demanded gravely.**_

"_**You!" Troy forgetting Gabriella, storms at his father, "Do you know what you've done? You smuggled the daughter of the freaking advisor to the king into our house!" Troy smirked, darkly, "They'll kill you. And you'll deserve it, you traitor."**_

_**Anger flashed through Teddy's green grey eyes, "Troy, don't say anything you're going to regret. You have no idea what— " next thing Gabriella knew there was a flash of movement and the sound of Troy's fist connecting with bone. Teddy reeled back from Troy's blow as blood begins to gush from his nose. **_

_**Tension hung in the air for a moment with only the sound of Troy's furious breath. "Get out, **_**now!" **_**Teddy's voice growled, piercing the silence. Troy glanced contemptuously at his father and then at Gabriella before stalking out of the room and storming down the stairs. **_

_**Teddy wiped his nose with an angry sigh, "Shawn, please get Gabriella settled in for me and tell her what's going on."**_

"_**No." Shawn responded, hand on her hip, "I'm with Troy on this one. How could you bring that thing into our house? You're as much a traitor as any royal could be. I'm not doing anything for you. " With a defiant glare of narrowed eyes, she too stalked out of the room with a furious gusto. **_

"_**Colleen," Teddy began, "please?"**_

"_**Yea. I'll do it." Colleen answered simply. **_

_**And with that, Teddy was gone.**_


End file.
